Record and Remember
by AbominableToast
Summary: "Bzzzt—I have been thinking about you lately—bzzt—I don't know why—fssshh—I don't even know—fssht— you." Len/Rin


_*Quick Author's Suggestion: I suggest listening to the piano cover of Palette on YouTube while reading this. c: Atmosphere._

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><p>"<em>Bzzzt—<em>I have been thinking about you lately_—bzzt—_I don't know why—_fssshh—_I don't even know_—fssht—_ you."

The record kept spinning, pausing every once in a while before coming to life again. All the while, the scratchy, tinny voice kept talking and talking.

"_Fssh—_I wanted to see you that—_bzzt—_that day—that day—that day—I wanted to tell you that I—_wrrk—_you were beautiful. You were laughing and I couldn't help but—_fssh—_love you. I felt like I – _bzzt—_that I knew you somehow…"

The voice filled the empty room and seemed to imprint into the white stucco of the walls. Every word was a heartbeat, every syllable was one small part of someone's heart—"You made me feel like—like I could be someone better—_fssht—you _were someone better—_bzzt—_but _why_? I don't know you. I don't – I don't—I don't—I don't—" A dry laugh crackled through the cacophony of broken, repeated words before the record skipped with a light scraping sound.

It kept on skipping, skipping, skipping…

"_Rin!"_

_She laughed and spun around, her white skirt flowing out like a cloud, her golden hair whipping across her cheeks like sunlight; blue eyes like oceans twinkled and sparkled in mirth._

"_Len!" she laughed out, a wide grin splitting her face. She spun once more, the tips of her bare feet twirling into the grass. The boy smiled and danced towards her, laughing along; tenor and soprano voices melting together like milk and sugar. He caught her hand and twirled her, their hair like sunshine and eyes like the purest summer sky—they spun until they tumbled to the ground, laughing until tears ran down their faces._

_The golden-haired girl and boy lay sprawled out on the green grass, fingers intertwined and tangled together like promise threads. They stared up at the sky as the clouds rolled by; heartbeats fluttering like tiny hummingbirds in their chests._

"_Rin."_

_The girl turned her head, a sweet smile gracing her lips. "Len?"_

_The boy met her gaze with his own and let himself smile. His fingers grasped her's tighter._

"_Rin, don't ever let go of my hand."_

_She looked at him inquiringly, her eyes full of questions. She began to get up. "Len..?"_

_But he pulled her down gently beside him until crystal met crystal. "I love you."_

_Her eyes widened in surprise before sparkling with warm tears. "I…love you too."_

_A brilliant grin began to spread across his face as he leaned forward, pressing his forehead against her's; warmth spreading across both their faces and into their hearts._

_Their hearts beat faster and swelled until the tears ran from her eyes like glimmering waterfalls._

"_I love you."_

"Why do you make me feel—_fssht_—sad? Why do make me feel—_bzzt—_ this way? Who are you?"

The words hung in the air; pleading, begging, frustrated, desperate.

"Who—_bzzt—_are you?"

The dusty surface of the record spun, skipped, scraped against the needle before falling into place again.

The crackling voice filled the silence again with words no one would hear.

Much less the one they were meant for.

"I don't remember anything—_bzzt—_nothing. Who are you?"

The record began to skip, repeating those words in a cracking voice, carrying on the spring breeze, sweet despite the ache in the words.

"_Who are you?"_

"_No! Len!"_

_She grasped his hand, tears streaming down her face in unstoppable torrents._

_Her golden hair glinted in the single ray of sunlight streaming from the crack in the curtain._

_***beep beep beep***_

"_Len!"_

_She fell to her knees and buried her face into his chest, sobbing out incoherent words; hoping it would reach his heart, his unresponsive brain._

"_Len, please…please wake up,Len!"_

_***beep beep beep***_

_His eyes remained closed, his face pale and waxen as if he was—_

"_No! Len, please! Please don't leave me!"_

_She touched his face, tears dripping from her cheeks to land on his._

"_Len, please, I love you."_

_She closed her eyes and saw him smiling at her through the darkness of her own mind. 'Rin.' he said, his blue eyes glittering._

_***beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep***_

_Her eyes flew open as her heart skidded to a stop._

_No._

_No._

_**No.**_

_She couldn't breathe. Not even when the nurses and doctors pushed her away, jabbering medical jargon as they tried to shock him back to life._

_She could only stare at his lifeless face until her vision began to blur again with tears._

"_Len."_

'_I love you, y'know? I always have. One day, we'll get married and have kids. They'd have my eyes and your smile.'_

_She clenched her eyes shut in pain._

'_Rin, don't ever let go of my hand.'_

_Her fists tightened until her nails dug into her palm, drawing blood._

'_Rin, I love you.'_

_Her heart burst. She screamed as her world fell apart around her head; the castles in the sky crumbling to dust, into reality._

_He was gone._

_He was gone forever._

_She shook, violent sobs wracking her petite body._

_***beeeeeeeeeep—beep beep beep***_

_She looked up in all her grief and stared at the monitor in blank disbelief._

_He…_

"_Miss?"_

_She turned her head to see a man in a white coat staring down at her with kind brown eyes._

"_He's fine now. His system is stable."_

_She stared at him, a smile beginning to grow across her tear-stained cheeks. But he didn't stop._

"_But…his brain is still unresponsive. He might be different when he wakes up. He might…" The doctor sighed. "He might not remember anything."_

_Her heart skidded._

"_Not anything?"_

_His tired eyes softened as he shook his head._

"_Not anything."_

_She looked down at her tightly clasped hands and found they were shaking. Closing her eyes in pain, she inhaled a ragged breath. Len. It was ok, she told herself, it's ok. He's alive. He's alive, Rin._

_Looking back up, she smiled hollowly._

"_I'll do my best to make him remember."_

_The doctor paused._

_Smiled._

_He simply nodded before turning back to the bed._

"_He'll remember." She whispered._

"You told me—_bzzt—_that your name was Rin."

Desolate and lost.

"You looked at me with—_fssht—_those big blue eyes and I—_bzzt—_fell in love."

The voice was soft and reverent; happy for a moment in a memory. Cicadas buzzed near the open window.

"Rin. Rin. _Rin. _I can't remember but all I know is that I love you."

"_Len!"_

_The blonde teen turned around and smiled softly._

"_Hi, Rin."_

_The golden-haired girl grinned and flounced over to him, circling around him once, grinning with big blue eyes twinkling. She laughed as he tried to follow her path and grabbed his arm._

"_Ne, Len!"_

_He looked down at her with a fond expression as he cocked his head, long blonde locks falling into his face._

"_Yes?"_

_She smiled so brightly and wildly, making him laugh. She tugged at his sleeve and bounced._

"_Let's go to the carnival! It just arrived in town yesterday! If we go now then maybe we'll be first in line!"_

_He grinned at her excitement and opened his mouth to reply when another voice called out._

"_Len-kun!"_

_Both blondes turned around as one face fell and the other lit up. Len stepped forward, unconsciously prying his arm from Rin's grasp. His smile was so painfully happy; she looked away._

"_Gumi!"_

_The green-haired girl smiled so prettily and so kindly. Rin gritted her teeth._

"_Len-kun, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the carnival? It just arrived yesterday. I was hoping to go with you."_

_His smile grew. Her heart broke._

"_Sure!"_

_He turned to Rin._

"_Do you wanna go?"_

_The blonde girl forced a happy smile and shook her head, the white ribbon swaying back and forth like a white flag._

"_No, I'm ok. You go ahead with Gumi. We'll go tomorrow."_

_Len nodded enthusiastically._

_She gulped and stifled the urge to cry._

"_H-Have fun, 'kay? And be careful."_

_Len grinned and turned to Gumi. He took her hand and they walked off, laughing and smiling and being in love._

_She simply watched until they disappeared into the crowd._

_They never did get to go together in the end._

"Hey—_bzzt—_I can never remember you—_fssht—_not even when I think really really hard."

The leaves rustled in the cold air, flashing brown and red and a fiery golden.

"I want to remember you. I want to—_fssht—_remember who I am and why you're here in my mind all the time."

Quiet.

It was all quiet now.

"Please—_fssht—_Rin—_bzzt—Rin—bzzt—_I_—crackle—_think—_bzzt—_that I—_fssssssshhhhhhh…"_

The only sound heard was the disconnected static of the record.

No more words.

No more.

The autumn breeze flitted through the open window, scattering leaves and scraps of paper around. One errant gust blew a ragged, tear-stained paper onto the record player, rustling in the breeze.

_Dear Rin,_

_I remember everything._

_You, me and everything._

_I remember our promise._

_I remember the accident._

_I remember your voice and your laugh and your smile and God—your words._

_I remember that I loved you._

_I __**still **__do._

_I love you, Rin._

_I remember you._

_I remember me._

_I remember._

The letter rustled one more time before being whisked away on the breeze again. It floated farther into the room before landing softly on a bed.

A weak laugh.

An age-worn hand picked up the letter, caressing it with trembling fingertips.

"Len…"

The old woman smiled behind tears as she lay in the bed, her greying golden hair spread across her pillow.

"You did remember."

She placed the letter near her heart.

And closed her eyes.

On the other side of the room, the record player gently came back to life, the last words from that same waning voice straining to be heard one last time.

"Hey, Rin. I love you."

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><p><strong>AbomiT: <strong>Another little angsty fic for my favorite twins. :c

I don't know why I love making them suffer so.

Yep,so obviously Len/Rin angst.

Feedback would be wonderful.

OH!

And DLB is being worked on right now but I'm a bit anyone would like to help with this problem,then please PM me. c:

Thanks!


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